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Pc is jailed for punching child Pc is jailed for punching child
(10 minutes later)
A policeman has been jailed for 12 weeks for punching a 12-year-old boy in the face at a police station.A policeman has been jailed for 12 weeks for punching a 12-year-old boy in the face at a police station.
Pc Daniel Gaffney, 30, of Greater Manchester Police, admitted punching the boy but said he was acting in self-defence.Pc Daniel Gaffney, 30, of Greater Manchester Police, admitted punching the boy but said he was acting in self-defence.
He had pleaded not guilty to assault, but magistrates rejected his claim.He had pleaded not guilty to assault, but magistrates rejected his claim.
Halton Magistrates' Court was told that the former policemen hit the boy so hard that a custody sergeant thought his nose was broken. Halton Magistrates' Court was told that Gaffney, who has now left the force, hit the boy so hard that a custody sergeant thought his nose was broken.
Gaffney attacked the boy in November last year at Didsbury police station after the boy was arrested at a children's home in Wythenshawe.
He had been drinking vodka with a friend and threatening staff with a fence post.
Child 'intimidating'
At the police station the boy claimed to have a gun and Gaffney took him to be strip-searched.
But by the time a colleague arrived to help, Gaffney had assaulted the boy.
Gaffney, of Northwich, Cheshire, a response officer with Greater Manchester Police for nearly seven years, initially lied to his bosses, claiming the boy fell.
A day later he admitted punching him with a force equivalent to a "seven or eight out of 10", he said, bursting the boy's nose.
He said that the child had intimidated him.